Judy Drew's had only half a tail to tell about her 26-inch redfish caught near the powerlines in Pine Island Sound on a jig-and-shrimp combo, while fishing with her husband, Todd, and son, Ethan. (Photo: Special to news-press.com)

Robbie Menendez with a 4-foot sandbar shark, one of five sharks caught and released Tuesday, 11-1/2 miles west of New Pass on a nearshore Fishbuster Charter. This one bit a pinfish. (Photo: Special to news-press.com)

Anglers will be able to harvest gag grouper beginning Tuesday and the best reports have been coming from the easy-to-reach Gulf passes.

Offshore anglers have been catching some whopper mangrove snapper, red grouper, and plenty of panfish including porgies. Bonito (little tunny) also have been adding bruising battles to the offshore mix.

Sharks ranging from 11-foot tigers to two-foot blacktips have been chomping baits offshore, inshore and in the bays and rivers.

The Caloosahatchee River has suffered from muddied waters flowing off the land and out of Lake Okeechobee, but tarpon and bull shark catches still are being reported from the river, and other species have concentrated near the river mouth in saltier waters.

Freshwater fishing also has been good, with Lake Trafford producing limits of bluegills, and even a successful bass tournament.

Lake Okeechobee's bass continue to bite in big numbers and sizes, and two jig specialists caught their limits of crappie there Monday.

CHARLOTTE HARBOR

Snapper, snook and jacks have been biting very well for King Fisher bay boats working Punta Gorda canal mouths. In the lower harbor, small sharks continue to bite pretty well, and cobia action picked up over the past week.

MATLACHA PASS

Oversize redfish and slot-size snook have been biting in the Indian Fields area, according to Lehr's Economy Tackle.

SANIBEL

The island has been surrounded by snook, with very good sightfishing conditions on the beaches and in Blind Pass, where linesides to 40 inches have been released on fly, according to Norm Zeigler's Fly, Bait & Tackle. Capt. Mark Westra reported good snook action and big trout also biting inside Blind Pass.

CALOOSAHATCHEE

Cape Tool reports tarpon taking cut baits near the Midpoint Memorial Bridge, and Lehr's got a report of five bull sharks to four feet taken on cut mullet from the foot of the Caloosahatchee Bridge.

OFFSHORE

Capt. Rob Modys reports lots of action including pompano and trout taking shrimp on jigs at the MAY Reef off Big Carlos Pass. Capt. Dave Hanson's nearshore trips have been great for sharks to four feet, and his offshore anglers have released goliath grouper to 200 pounds, and caught lots of yellowtail, mangrove and lane snappers for victuals.

LEE COUNTY

Beau Stout of St. Petersburg caught and released a half-dozen bass to 19 inches while casting and trolling a floater/diver Rapala plug Monday from his propeller-driven Native kayak in a south Fort Myers lake.

Cape Tool customers have been catching bluegill and spotted tilapia on live worms in northern Cape canals. Some also have been catching bass, mostly shy of 2 pounds, but up to 5, in the same areas.

LAKE TRAFFORD

The team of Bass and Bass won the Fort Myers Bass Netters tournament Saturday on Lake Trafford with a 14-3/4-pound sack of six that included a big bass of 3.12 – a half-pound shy of the tournament big fish weighed by the team of Frog and Philip.

LAKE OKEECHOBEE

The Bass Busters Saturday event on the Big O was won with a five fish bag of 29 pounds. It took 21 pounds to crack the top five, with almost all of 60 boats fishing peppergrass patches from Ritta Island to Kreamer Island's

Andy's Jigs owner Andy Baumker and his wife used their favorite creations to catch their limits of crappie, working the six- to seven-foot drop-offs along the "ship channel" outside Clewiston.

Everglades bass is holding up well, as attested by a 26.33 pound bag taken Saturday from the south-side Alligator Alley canal near Mile Marker 41 by Mike Lendle.

PIC OF THE WEEK

The deeper you go, the bigger the snapper, judging by the whoppers caught by Marc Speece and friends, in 110 to 120 feet of water off Fort Myers Beach on the Fishin' Fever III.

HOT SPOTS

• No. 1: Punta Gorda canal mouths for snapper, snook and big jacks.

• No. 2: Northern Matlacha Pass for big reds and snook.

• No. 3: Sanibel beaches for snook and more.

• No. 4: Mouth of the Caloosahatchee for snook; upriver for bull sharks and tarpon.

• No. 5: Nearshore Reefs for trout, pompano and more.

• No. 6: Well offshore for snapper and groupers.

• No. 7: Lake Trafford for bluegills and bass.

LAKE OKEECHOBEE

• No. 1: Clewiston channel for crappie.

• No. 2: Ritta to Kreamer to Pelican for bass in the peppergrass.

• No. 3: Everglades canals for bass.

FISH TIP

Gag grouper will open for harvest in local Gulf waters beginning Tuesday, July 1, with the end of season not yet set by fishery managers. The bag limit on gags will be two, minimum length 22 inches, included in a four-grouper aggregate bag that also can include a total of four black, red, and scamp groupers.

Gags are the sportiest and most accessible (and some would argue tastiest) of local groupers, frequently caught on trolled deep-diving plugs or spoons, often in the deeper Gulf passes or over nearshore, and sometimes inshore reefs. Live baits including pinfish, pigfish and large herrings are very effective, as are fresh cut baits.

Submit photos or fishing report

Email it to Byron Stout: bstout@news-press.com. Be sure to put "fishing report" in the subject line. Check out a photo gallery of reader catches including whopper snook, redfish, snapper, grouper and an 11-foot tiger shark